Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

54 reviews

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i listened to the audiobook which i wouldn’t recommend because the two timelines were not clearly said, so i was sometimes confused where we were in the story and what happened when. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

kelly_e's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Series: Beloved Trilogy #1
Genre: Classic
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: September 16, 1987

T H R E E • W O R D S

Complex • Haunting • Brilliant

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present.

💭 T H O U G H T S

While scouring lists of challenged books to find something I hadn't yet read, Beloved stood out among the rest. While I have heard so many amazing and wonderful things about Morrison as a person, as well as her work, I had never read anything. I knew to be prepared for an unsettling and stunning story, but I don't think anything could have ever prepared me properly.

Morrison's storytelling is just phenomenal - combining history with a magical touch - the writing style is just so unique. Her prose is simply stunning. There were many times when I had to pause to re-read what I'd just read because it was so beautiful. Her descriptions of the imagery and use of metaphors are so poignant. The characters she creates are flawed and real. At it's core, this is a portrayal of mother/daughter relationships and generational trauma. Sethe is reliving her past, questioning her decisions. Her story evokes so much emotion.

What kept this from being a five-star read is the ending - I was left feeling underwhelmed. There's so much build up - heartache, trauma, life, - within the pages and it kind of just felt like it ended. Maybe that's because it's a trilogy, and I would get more of what I was wanting in those books, but it just didn't leave me satisfied considering everything else the rest of the book delivers.

I tandem read the audio, read by the author, along with a physical copy. I don't think I would have enjoyed the experience as much if I had done one or the other. Morrison's voice carries a level of emotion above the words on the page. I believe tandem reading is what allowed me to get the full grasp of the story, and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering picking it up.

Beloved was an uncomfortable read that required sharp focus and attention. One of those books that I wanted to slow down and savour, yet just wanted to keep going. Several times I had to set it aside in order to digest the heaviness - a certain reminder of how awful these years were. It's one of those important and impactful stories, told by one of of the greatest story tellers.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• classic enthusiasts
• readers looking for something impactful
• fans of beautiful writing

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Something that is loved is never lost."

"Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined."

"There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks."

"I don't care what she is. Grown don't mean a thing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that supposed to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Confinement, Abandonment, Slavery, Grief, Violence, Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Hate crime, Death, Child death, Murder, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Body horror, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

aude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Slavery, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal cruelty

eggfartz's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, War, Alcohol, and Body horror

lorenag5's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Abandonment, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Trafficking, Child abuse, Sexism, Violence, and War

laraamaee's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

It’s a crime that this is my first proper Toni Morrison read. I’ve been wanting to read Beloved for years, having heard so much about it, but put it off because of the dark/heavy subject matter.

I finally got round to it by doing a buddy read, and after about 50 pages, I couldn’t put it down.

Morrison is a master of storytelling, of deftly weaving the webs of the past & present together to create an unchronological unfolding of horror. Beloved is haunting, violent, mysterious. The trauma of slavery bleeds through the entire book, which makes it very hard to swallow (especially as it’s based on the true story of Margaret Garner). But since America was basically founded on slavery…Morrison’s work is an essential read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Child death

doctorjessie's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Child death

reidmoore's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Slavery

Read it for a college lit class. It certainly has its cultural value, but I did not enjoy reading it (personally).

katiemeredith's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my all-time favorite book. This book is for you if you love psychological horror/thrillers and challenging reading. Learning to read Morrison's narration is difficult but incredibly rewarding once mastered. This is a book that will truly make you understand the horror of slavery and its long-lasting effects on its victims. Pretty much every content warning imaginable is described in great detail, so be cautious if you are vulnerable to being affected by certain events.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Cursing, Sexual assault, Murder, Child abuse, Racism, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Suicide, Rape, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

flara's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Beloved tackles many difficult themes, given its historical context (black community post-American Civil War). This was rather mysterious and confusing read. I found the pace quite slow, which wasn't helped by the 'mystical' mood and language used throughout. I struggled to distinguish what line belonged to which character; if what was said was an actual line or if it was a description, and so on. 

I didn't go into this blindly. I knew the basic premise of the book and therefore had high expectations. I did not expect it to be about a ghost that haunts its dysfunctional family and later materialises in flesh (and then dissolves into thin air altogether at the very end).

Certain passages are quite graphic and potentially triggering for some. I suppose that the supernatural elements offset some of the cruelty, but it just wasn't the right fit for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Murder, War, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship